Japan will release 7.5 million barrels of oil from its reserves to balance the market
Japan plans to release 7.5 million barrels of oil from private reserves in accordance with the coordinated release led by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the country’s Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda announced on Friday. .
The United States and other IEA member states agreed on Tuesday to release a total of 60 million barrels of oil reserves to offset supply disruptions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Japan is gathering information on Exxon Mobil Corp’s recent announcement to withdraw from the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in which a Japanese consortium holds a 30% stake to assess the impact on the country’s energy supply.
“With the global crude oil supply and demand structure becoming unstable, Sakhalin-1 is an important project for Japan which imports about 90% of its crude oil from the Middle East in terms of stable supply. in energy,” Hagiuda said.
“In light of the intensified international sanctions against Russia, we will take appropriate action in accordance with the G-7, treating stable energy supply and energy security as a national interest that must be protected to the greatest extent possible,” did he declare.
Exxon announced earlier this week that it would exit Russian oil and gas operations, including management of major oil and gas production facilities on the island of Sakhalin in Russia’s Far East following the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow.